AOL, Microsoft Recycle Spammer Loot

Both companies have taken large sums from court settlements against spammers and are using them to make e-mail safe again and reward users.

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AOL and Microsoft are making strides to publicize their efforts in the war against spam. This week, both companies announced that they've taken settlements from lawsuits against spammers and are putting the money back into their respective anti-spam activities.

Microsoft Corp. will be giving $5 million of its recent settlement back to the spam-fighting community, and America Online Inc. will be giving away loot gathered from a spam settlement.

Earlier this week, Microsoft posted an open letter from Microsoft General Counsel Brad Smith, which explained that the self-dubbed "Spam King" Scott Richter had agreed to pay the company $7 million in damages.

The letter said that after Microsoft used that money to cover the legal expenses, the company would "reinvest almost every [remaining] penny from this settlement."

"We'll dedicate $5 million dollars to increase our Internet enforcement efforts and expand technical and investigative support to help law enforcement address computer-related crimes," the letter said.

Also as part of the settlement, Richter has agreed to comply with federal and state anti-spam laws, only sending e-mail to those who've requested it.

Before the lawsuit, the letter said, Richter sent, and helped others send, more than 38 billion e-mails per year.

The lawsuit began in 2003 after Richter told Microsoft to "stick it" when the company approached him and offered him a $100,000 settlement.

"Spam has grown from an annoyance to a threat," the letter added. "Through new laws and enforcement actions here and around the globe, spammers are getting the message: Illegal spam is a riskier way to make a living."

AOL is sending a similar message by giving away $20,000 in gold bars, a yellow 2003 Hummer H2 and $75,000 in cash, seized from spammer Brad Bournival, who was profiled in a book released last year, Spam Kings. The book said that Bournival bought the Hummer with the money he made selling penis enlargement pills. He and David Hawke, his partner in crime, also had a penchant for goldHawke allegedly keeping his portion secure by burying it in the woods.

Reports say that, on a single day in January 2004, Bournival and his partners caused more than 100,000 complaints from AOL members.

Anyone can enter to win the confiscated loot in an AOL sweepstakes, which will take place Aug. 10 through Aug. 19. Last year, AOL held a similar sweepstakes, awarding the winner a $45,000 Porsche Boxter retrieved from another spammer. The sweepstakes will be open to non-AOL members as well.

In addition to rewarding members for reporting spam, AOL spokesperson Nicholas Graham said, the sweepstakes also sends a clear message to people tempted to clog people's inboxes with unsolicited e-mails.

"It's very important to send a signal to spammers that we will track them down with the help of our members and we will take their assets," Graham said. "With [other members'] help, they can take back things that were taken from them."

Graham said AOL's commitment to stopping spam has paid off and that spam is down by 85 percent, thanks to aggressive litigation by the company, which has remained an active participant in a large anti-spam coalition comprised of AOL, Microsoft, Yahoo Inc., EarthLink Inc., Amazon.com Inc., and government and law enforcement in Asia, Europe and Latin America.

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Naysayers who criticize AOL for giving away large amounts of cash to members instead of giving back to anti-spam prevention, as Microsoft is doing, don't know what they're talking about, Graham said.

"This is not the first time we have won a legal judgment," he said. "We have settled over 30 lawsuits with over 200 spammers and entities, and we've won millions and millions in judgments.

"We have already definitely used that money to support anti-spam tools, expand our anti-spam team and update filters," he said. "It's important that we also give back to our members in order to let them know that their help has been invaluable."

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